


Metamorphosis of the heart

by ca_te



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Merman Kurt, a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2013-09-21
Packaged: 2017-12-27 05:25:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/974946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ca_te/pseuds/ca_te
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a summer day, when he was ten years old, Blaine met Kurt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Metamorphosis of the heart

**Author's Note:**

> A big thank you to [aelora](http://aelora.tumblr.com/) and[lurkdusoleil](http://lurkdusoleil.tumblr.com/) for the beta and to [agent-girlsname](http://agent-girlsname.tumblr.com/) for the cheerleading. A long time ago I got a prompt for merman!Kurt, but never got around to writing it. Then, I read Riah’s beautiful fic, [One spectacle grander](http://lurkdusoleil.tumblr.com/post/50862049855/one-spectacle-grander-7-7-complete) (if you haven’t read it yet, what are you waiting for?!), and I finally felt inspired. It was a lot of fun and I might write a sequel if I see that any of you is interested. I hope you’ll enjoy <3

art by the amazing [kettlebaggins](http://kettlebaggins.tumblr.com/)!

Blaine had always loved the sea. Growing up alone, with parents who too often seemed to forget about him, he had learned to spend his summer days on his own. The house looked right over a small inlet. The sand was always warm and clean. Blaine didn’t feel alone when he was down there, swimming and exploring. Sure, a playmate would have made everything better, but his overflowing imagination provided dragons to fight and sunken vessels to explore.

It was a day at the end of summer, when he was ten years old. The sun was bristling and Blaine had been lying on the sand watching the cloudless sky up above. The sound of the waves licking at the shore had almost lulled him to sleep when a noise like a stone hitting the water’s surface reached his ears. He blinked against the cutting white light. The water broke and rippled and Blaine hastened to get up. It could be a fish, maybe a dolphin? He had read they didn’t come too close to the shore, but who knew?

His feet sank a bit in the sand as he shuffled closer to the water. He was not prepared for what he saw once he reached the shoreline. Sitting in the low water, back resting against a rock covered in seaweed, was a boy. His skin was pale, almost translucent – it made Blaine think of those porcelain plates his grandma kept in her living room. White and untouchable. Blaine was about to call out when his gaze travelled lower. Visible through the transparent and clean water there was a fin, twitching gently, the scales catching the light. They were an azure-green color, but they grew pearly where they joined with the boy’s skin. Blaine’s voice got stuck in his throat and he couldn’t do anything more than stare, afraid that if he said something the boy would disappear like a dream under the heat of the summer sun.

The boy was tinkering with some shells. They were big and colorful, nothing like the small ones Blaine usually found on the beach, washed ashore after high tide. Blaine figured the boy could go really deep under water with that fin of his; he must have seen gorgeous and mysterious things that Blaine could only imagine, stuck on land as he was. But he wanted to ask, he wanted to know about abandoned vessels and ugly fishes of the abyss, so he took a step forward, and then another, until the water licked at his feet and the boy sensed his presence.

“Who’s there?”

His voice was high and graceful and Blaine found himself fumbling for words.

“I’m Blaine.”

The boy squinted, one pale hand coming up to shield his eyes. Blaine wondered if maybe mermen weren’t as used to light as humans and hastened to move closer.

“You are human.”

It wasn’t a question and there wasn’t trace of fear in the boy’s voice. If Blaine had been a bit older he would have recognized awe in the boy’s tone.

“Yes, I am. And you…”

Blaine’s attention went back to the fin and he quickly averted his gaze. His mother had taught him that it was impolite to stare, after all. But the boy didn’t seem to mind, he grinned and flipped his fin up, out of the water. It was long and flexible and simply beautiful.

“You like it?”

Blaine nodded shyly and took another step forward, until he was standing right in front of the boy.

“You haven’t told me your name.”

The merman tilted his head to the side.

“I’m Kurt. Nice to meet you.”

Blaine thought Kurt was way more well-mannered than all his schoolmates back at home. He liked that.

“Can I sit with you?”

Kurt nodded, curling his fin to make room for Blaine, who sat down in the water, his back against the rocks.

“So what are you doing up here?”

“I found these and wanted to make a necklace.”

He held up his handful of shells and Blaine leaned forward. Their shoulders brushed together, Kurt’s skin was cooler than his and it was a relief under the scorching sun. He smelled of salt and something fresh that Blaine couldn’t pinpoint.

“They’re beautiful.”

Kurt nodded, a small smile on his lips.

“I am the only one among my friends who knows where to find them.”

Blaine wished he could say something like “can you show me?” But a quick glance at Kurt’s fin was enough to remind him he could never follow. “There aren’t shells like these here on the beach”, he said and Kurt simply looked at him. His eyes were pale gray in the sunlight.

“Here.”

Blaine lowered his gaze to the blue shell Kurt was offering. It seemed a piece of night sky fallen from high above.

“Oh but…”

“Take it, please.”

Kurt’s voice was sweet but firm and Blaine took the shell in his hands. It was light.

“Thank you.”

Kurt smiled, cheeks tinted slightly pink. “Well, you are my friend now, right?”

“Of course I am.”

*

Years flew by from that summer afternoon. Every single year Blaine came back to the same summer house and every time going back home to Westerville at the end of August was a bit harder. Because back home there weren’t Kurt’s laughter or his tales about his life under the sea. There weren’t Kurt’s attentive eyes and patient ears.

Over time Blaine learned he would never be able to fulfill the plans and dreams his parents had for him.  He liked boys, and the realization came simply from getting lost for a second too long in the curve of Kurt’s smile one cloudy morning. Back then, Blaine wanted to tell Kurt how he felt, but he had been afraid to. What if under the sea liking boys was considered wrong just as it was on land? Blaine couldn’t bear the thought of losing Kurt. It was already bad enough to leave him every year to go back to school after the summer months. It was Kurt – beautiful, sensitive Kurt  - who took his hand one day they had swam together up to a cluster of rocks by the promontory.

“You know you can tell me everything, don’t you?”

Kurt was already different from the kid he had been once, his features more defined, his arms slowly filling out, his smile so beautiful it almost hurt. And looking at that smile Blaine just opened his heart effortlessly. Kurt kept smiling, his fingers squeezing Blaine’s hand gently. “We are the same, you and I.” And that was enough to make the world a better place.

*

High school ended in a whirlwind of goodbyes and cardboard boxes that swallowed up most of Blaine’s belongings in preparation for college. Most of the time Blaine felt as though someone had put him on mute, suspended between excitement and fear for a future that lied unknown right around the corner. That summer Blaine left on his own to go the old summer house, Cooper was busy filming in LA and his parents had business trips to dedicate themselves to. Blaine didn’t mind much, Kurt was there and that was the only thing that mattered. It was raining the afternoon Blaine pulled up in front of the house; he didn’t even unload his suitcase before hurrying down the slope to the beach. The sea seemed to boil, dark under the grey sky.

“Kurt!”, Blaine shouted the loudest that he could as the wind whipped the shore. The whereabouts of Kurt’s home under the sea weren’t known to him, but somehow Kurt always managed to know when Blaine arrived. And so Blaine waited under the rain until a familiar head of chestnut hair emerged from the rolling waters.

“Blaine! What are you doing here with this weather!”

Blaine chuckled fondly, Kurt’s concern making him feel warm even under the cool rain pouring down on him.

“I wanted to see you.”

Kurt splashed his fin up and through the water, his cheeks dusted pink. Blaine waited until the young merman was closer to the shore to take a few steps forward, water lapping at his shoes, and crouching down. Kurt looked up at him, pushing himself up on his hands to brush a quick kiss to Blaine’s cheek. The heat raised fast to Blaine’s face, the fleeting thought of how Kurt’s lips would taste on his leaving him trembling slightly and feeling too tight in his own skin.

“Now you’ve seen me, but you need to get inside. I’ll still be here tomorrow.”

Blaine nodded, his eyes searching Kurt’s gray ones. “I know you will.”

The morning after came with a huge sun blinking down on Earth and Blaine hastening out of bed way later than he had wanted. He had set the alarm clock early, but he had gotten lost in a tangle of dreams that had left him flushed and aching and in need to take care of it before getting up. As he made his way down to the beach, Blaine tried to vanish his night fantasies from his mind – strong hands, a lucent fin wrapped around him, warmer than expected, Kurt’s sweet mouth on his. Shaking his head, he hopped down the few rocks scattered at the far end of the beach and reached for the entrance of a small cave, their usual hideout for when the sun was high in the sky and too hard for Kurt’s pale skin. Inside the air was cooler, the tang of salt and weeds strong but not unpleasant. Blaine made his way for a small ledge and sat down. It wasn’t long before the water rippled and Kurt emerged, a smile on his beautiful – who was Blaine to even begin to deny that – face.

“Hello.”

Blaine smiled, scooting closer to the water. Kurt reached for his hands, entwining their fingers and squeezing gently. His skin was colder than Blaine’s, but also smoother, its touch familiar to Blaine in the most delicious of ways.

“It’s good to have you back,” Kurt’s voice rose and fell like a song, never failing to make Blaine feel relaxed and content just from listening to it.

“You know? Sometimes I wish I could always remain here. Just spend my whole life here with you.”

It wasn’t the first time Blaine had talked so openly about how much he enjoyed Kurt’s company, they had always been close and never really thought about hiding things from each other. After last night’s dreams, though, it felt as something bigger and Blaine’s heart thumped a bit faster than usual as he waited for Kurt’s reply. The merman pushed himself up on the ledge, chin resting on his arms and looking up at Blaine with a soft smile.

“That would be amazing.”

Blaine nodded, cheeks aflame but feeling lighter. He had fantasized about sharing a life with Kurt many times, as absurd as it might be. But after all mermen were supposed to be a legend and yet Kurt was real, alive and breathtaking as no normal boy could ever be, so maybe not all fantasies were unfeasible, right?

“I could live in the summer house, grow old here.”

Kurt tilted his head to the side, a small smile on his lips.

“Or I could grow a pair of legs and we could travel the world together.”

Longing was palpable behind Kurt’s soft spoken words. Blaine reached out on instinct, his fingertips gliding over Kurt’s cheekbone. There were so many things he wanted to say, but maybe fantasies were just that after all.

The end of summer approached way faster than usual and the time for another goodbye arrived. A whole new world waited for him in New York, Blaine knew that, still it felt absurdly wrong to leave Kurt, to go ahead discovering the world without him by his side. Many times Kurt had asked about life on land, about cars and movies and airplanes. Blaine had seen the glint in his eyes, the desire to see it all, to touch it all. And he had wanted so much to give Kurt all of that.

Kurt was already waiting for him, sat on a rock, fin curled under him in all its glistening silver glory. Blaine jogged down the beach, feet sinking a bit in the sand. Kurt smiled when he spotted him, sad and small.

“You came to say goodbye.”

It wasn’t a question; they worked like that, spending almost every hour of every single day together during the summer and being forced to deal with miles of distance between them the rest of the year. Blaine couldn’t help to think it wasn’t fair. He reached forward, fingertips tapping on one of Kurt’s scales, the touch oddly intimate even for the two of them. Kurt blushed a pretty shade of pink before covering Blaine’s hand with his cool one.

“Is it normal that I miss you more every single time?”

Blaine’s heart somersaulted and he forced himself to fish out words that made sense and weren’t something like IthinkIlikeyoulikereallylikeyoucanIkissyou?

“I…it is the same for me too.”

Kurt’s fingers slipped up to Blaine’s wrist, pulling him close, until all he could smell was the salt on Kurt’s skin and all he could see were his sky-azure eyes.

“Sometimes I…I want to be closer to  you. Is it normal too?”

Sincere curiosity and wonder laced Kurt’s soft words and Blaine nodded, before leaning forward and brushing their lips together. It was quick and gentle. It wasn’t Blaine’s first kiss – he and Wes had experimented a couple of times, back at Dalton – but it was the first one that wasn’t driven by mere curiosity, the first one that truly counted.

Kurt looked at him, pink cheeks and wide eyes.

“What…was that?”

Blaine chuckled; after knowing Kurt for years he sometimes forgot that they still came from two different worlds, where even gestures might have a different meaning.

“It was a kiss. Humans…they kiss when they care about each other.”

Kurt’s brow furrowed in concentration before he leaned forward and brushed his lips at the corner of Blaine’s mouth.

“I care about you too.”

That day Blaine ended up delaying his departure until the sun was low in the sky and the last train would leave in less than an hour.

“I’ve to go now.”

Kurt nodded, his fin twitching where it laid half-submerged in the water.

“I wish I could follow you.”

Blaine’s heart trembled with an affection too vast for him to give him a proper name yet.

“You’ll be with me, in my heart.”

Kurt’s smile made the very sun look pale in comparison.

The ride on the train felt a lot like agony; being forced away from Kurt wasn’t fair, not after that first tentative step they took together. The train ran fast across the country, bringing him back to Westerville. Then from Columbus he would take the plane to New York. He was getting closer and closer to his new life and all that Blaine could think about was Kurt, back to his home under the sea, where he could never follow.

*

New York was all that Blaine had imagined and more – bustling streets, neon lights shining like stars and new things to discover with every step. The first week of courses at NYU rolled past easily enough; it hadn’t been easy to stand up to his father and force him to accept the fact that Blaine didn’t want to become a lawyer and wanted to teach instead, but all the yells and fight and guilt trips proved worth it. He was studying what he liked and people on campus were nice; Sam, his roommate, was a dork but also absurdly friendly. Nothing seemed enough to erase the thought of Kurt, though. Not that Blaine wanted to, after all he was sure the merman was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to him.

Blaine spent every single hour of free time walking around the city, taking pictures of places Kurt might like, from Bethesda Terrace to the small café Tina, one of his classmates from English literature class, showed him one sunny afternoon. Blaine could picture Kurt’s face once he would show him the photographs – the tilt of his smile, the light in those gray-azure eyes of his.

New York was full of many wonders and it was also full of boys. Guys who weren’t scared as Wes had been, who knew who they were and just wanted to have fun. None of them was Kurt, though, and Blaine found he didn’t care about them in the least. When the longing became too much, Blaine wrote long letters, perched on the windowsill of his dorm room, the city breathing all around him. He didn’t have an address to send them at of course, but it made him feel closer to Kurt nonetheless.

In his dreams, sometimes Kurt had legs and walked by his side across Times Square, hopped on the subway and straddled him on navy sheets. Sometimes Blaine had a fin and they swam together, water caressing their bodies, Kurt’s hair moving with it, his teeth white like pearls as he smiled.

The end of the first semester arrived and it was like a blessing. Blaine hadn’t been able to avoid the annual Christmas’ party at the Anderson household, but on the 26th he was already back on the train, humming along with The Beatles, his heart full to the brim with KurtKurtKurt.

A strong wind tugged at Blaine’s jacket, the deserted beach stretching gray under a pale sun. He called Kurt’s name, the sound of it mixing up with the rolling of the waves. No answer came, the surface of the water remained unbroken, no fin splashing through it, no beautiful boy emerging from the foam. Blaine remained on the shore for hours, not caring about the cold, his bones heavy with worry and dread. What if Kurt was hurt, what if he had moved away, what if he had abandoned Blaine? In front of him the sea kept breathing, while inside of him a light dimmed, his throat clogging up with longing. That night he walked back home with tears dried on his cheeks and a shattered heart. He had been the first one to leave Kurt behind, hadn’t he? As he waited for sleep to come, Blaine deleted every single picture he had taken for the merman in New York. What sense did they make now?

*

“Blaine, dude, don’t lie to me. Something is definitely wrong with you.”

“It’s nothing, Sam, really.”

His parents hadn’t asked questions, they probably didn’t even notice that there was something odd about their younger son, but Sam, like the good friend he had proved to be, wouldn’t stop nagging Blaine about it. But what could Blaine tell him? “Look, Sam, I’m not alright, because the first boy I was ever in love with disappeared? Oh, he isn’t really a boy, more like a merman”? Sam would think he was crazy and Blaine couldn’t afford losing a friend when he had already lost Kurt.

Both Sam and Tina did their best to cheer him up, dragging him along for silly karaoke nights, improvising sleepovers and movie marathons. They never left his side and Blaine started thinking he must have done some good deed in his previous life if he got so lucky in the current one. The thought of Kurt never faded, questions left without answers and longing burning fierce especially at night or in the morning when he opened his eyes on a new day without the promise of Kurt in it.

When Sam suggested they could go camping that summer, Blaine agreed without hesitation. He didn’t think he could bear to be back at the summer house where his love had grown, where he and Kurt had met.

*

Blaine kept the shell Kurt had given him that first summer so many years before. It remained on his nightstand. Taking it and putting it away felt too much like a betrayal.

*

Michael was a nice guy, good looking and funny. Blaine met him on a karaoke night in Brooklyn. He had a smooth, rich voice. While listening to him, Blaine couldn’t help to think he had never heard Kurt sing. He could imagine what the merman’s voice would sound like, though, and the simple thought clawed at his heart fiercely.

When his turn to sing came, Blaine could feel the guy’s gaze on him; nothing dirty or uncomfortable, just curious interest. It felt odd but also flattering and Blaine kept singing under the bar’s lights, his heart feeling a little lighter. He smiled and said yes when after his performance the guy introduced himself and offered to get him a drink.

The first time they kissed it was not as perfect as kissing Kurt was, it didn’t make him feel as though the whole world had tilted back into its rightful place, but it was real and it was something. Blaine’s heart was still too deeply scarred to refuse a bit of comfort. From then on Blaine tried hard to give all that he could to their relationship. Michael was sweet and understanding and it wasn’t hard to get along with him. He didn’t ask questions when Blaine refused to go to the sea or to the aquarium, when Blaine refused to talk about his previous love experiences. There were things other people couldn’t understand, there were things that were too precious for Blaine to share.

Another summer arrived and passed without Blaine going back to the seaside. That didn’t stop him from imagining Kurt sitting in the cave that had been theirs or making shell necklaces by the rocks right in front of the summer house. Blaine learned that on summer nights his dreams were more vivid and Kurt was in every single one.

*

It was November and it was raining. Blaine held his books closer to his chest and hastened along the sidewalk. The warmth of the coffee shop was a blessing and he took a deep breath, the smell of freshly grinded coffee filling his nostrils. It was his favorite place to go when he had a few hours to spare between classes; he had never liked libraries, the silence had always felt eerie to his ears.

Santana, the barista, had become sort of a friend, albeit a pretty snarky one. He sat down at a small table, his mocha and a chocolate chip cookie in front of him. Blaine was grateful for a bit of time on his own. He had broken off with Michael, after things had turned awkward between them, the other guy wanting them to move forward with their relationship, while Blaine knew he would never be ready for that, not when Kurt seemed to be engraved in the very flesh of his heart.

With a sigh he opened his textbook and tried to concentrate. His cup was empty by the time he lifted his gaze again; trying to lose the knots in his spine Blaine twisted his torso and turned towards the glass door in the process. It was then that his heart stopped. Pushing the door open, hair swept up and luminous eyes, was Kurt. For a moment Blaine’s brain refused to compute and he entertained the idea that the guy with the navy coat was a doppleganger, but there was something about him, in the curve of his lips, in the softness of his movements that washed away every doubt. Still, it didn’t make it any less absurd for him to be there, in New York, standing on a pair of long and beautiful legs.

His legs felt like jelly when he stood, heart beating so fast it threatened to burst free from his chest. Kurt was already in line, hands clasped tight in front of him. Blaine found himself wondering how he learned to walk, how he learned to blend in like that. He looked like a beautiful New Yorker, no one but Blaine could tell he had been a merman once.

“Kurt?”

People went on chatting and drinking all around them, the world didn’t stop, but Blaine felt it fading away as Kurt turned, his eyes focusing on him. For an instant Blaine was back at the beach, Kurt smiling up at him, his cheeks flushed a pretty pink, his lips redder because of all the kisses they had shared.

“Blaine.”

His voice had the sea hidden in it, the salt and the waves and the open sky, just as Blaine remembered. Without a second thought he reached for Kurt’s hand, his heart giving a happy jolt when the other boy didn’t pull back, and made for the door, trying to get some privacy. Outside it was still raining, but he didn’t care in the least.

“Kurt, how…”

The words died in his throat as Kurt simply hugged him, his arms strong and tight around him, and Blaine simply let himself get lost in the feeling. They had never been able to hug like that before, Kurt’s fin and his need to be always half submerged in the water getting in the way. It felt amazing, Kurt warm and solid, humming against him as he used to do back them, when speaking the language of men wasn’t enough to express what he was thinking. Blaine simply held on tight, rain pouring over them.

*

For once Blaine was glad that Sam wasn’t around. He closed the door and walked up to the chest of drawers, fishing out a towel and handing it to Kurt.

“Thank you.”

Kurt smile was small and shy, but it was there nonetheless. For two years it had existed only in Blaine’s dreams and to finally look at it was always blinding.

Blaine smiled back and sat on the bed, toweling his curls dry, and motioned for Kurt to join him. The mattress dipped as Kurt sat down, his back straight and elegant. The need to kiss him sparkled bright inside of Blaine, but he tried to keep himself in check. The two years spent apart, unanswered questions piled at his feet like dust, weren’t so easy to erase.

“How… “ He vaguely gestured in the direction of Kurt’s legs.

“It is a long story.”

Pain echoed behind Kurt’s words and Blaine’s gut twisted with worry. He reached out, hand covering Kurt’s on the duvet.

“I’m here and we have all the time in the world now, right?”

Kurt chewed on his lower lip, eyes huge and filled with an affection that made Blaine feel warm all over. Then he nodded and began to talk.

“When you kissed me…I didn’t even know what a kiss was, you know that. But I knew I wanted to kiss you forever and…I couldn’t do that if I didn’t change.”

“Kurt, I wouldn’t have asked you to change, I…”

Kurt shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips.

“I know, but it is the truth. I couldn’t have hugged you as I did before, I couldn’t have walked down the street with you like I just did. I didn’t know what the world on land looked like, if it was as scary as my people told in stories, but it didn’t matter. You lived here and I wanted to be with you.”

Blaine’s heart stuttered in his chest, the enormity of what Kurt had just said sinking in and casting a light on all the grief and the longing of the past two years. When Blaine had felt lonely and abandoned, when Blaine had thought he might have lost Kurt forever, Kurt was still loving him, was still looking for a way for the two of them to be together.

“Kurt, I didn’t know, I…”

Kurt’s fingertip was cool against his lips, just like his beautiful fin had once been.

“You couldn’t know. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how. I…I was never good with understanding how you did things here on land.”

Blaine had to smile at that.

“You seemed to have learned pretty well.”

Kurt’s eyes glinted, betraying how pleased he was by Blaine’s comment.

“I had to learn fast. Plus I was always fascinated by your people, you know that. The humans I’ve met since the day I was washed ashore were good, but for a few exceptions.”

Blaine shuddered at the thought of what Kurt must have gone through, ending up alone on a beach with legs he hadn’t known how to use. Guilt blossomed like a ruby flower  inside of him.

“I should have been there for you.”

Kurt slid his finger away from Blaine’s lips, tracing the curve of Blaine’s cheekbone.

“You are here now.”

“It isn’t the same.”

“It is all that matters, though.”

Blaine looked at him, really looked, and everything was written on Kurt’s beautiful face – his bravery, his kindness, his love. Blaine kissed him then, gentle and soft; he didn’t pull away quickly as he had done the first time on the beach. A small part of him, irrational as it might be, told him to stay close, to keep their lips pressed together longer, so that Kurt couldn’t disappear again.

Kurt made a small contented sound, that Blaine happily swallowed down with another kiss. When they broke apart, he pressed their foreheads together, hands gripping Kurt’s sides, keeping him close despite their slightly uncomfortable position.

“I can’t believe you’re here.”

He could only imagine how hard it had been for Kurt to leave his father and his friends behind, how scared he must have been, how high the price he paid must have been.

“You shouldn’t have done all this for me.”

Kurt pulled back, eyes serious.

“Do you love me, Blaine?”

Blaine had carried the answer to that very question inside of his heart for years. Answering was as easy as breathing.

“Yes.”

Kurt’s smile shone in the half light of the room.

“Then it was all worth it.”

*

4 years later

“Blaine, what do you think you’re doing?”

Blaine looks up at Kurt, going for his best puppy-eyes impression.

“Collecting shells?”

Kurt shakes his head, hands on his hips.

“Do you know how many we already have at home?”

Blaine shrugs and flashes Kurt his best innocent smile. Collecting shells had started out as a silly way to make Kurt feel somehow close to the sea even though they were building a life for themselves in New York. Then it became a small ritual; every time they go back to the summer house, Blaine takes a new shell to place on the nightstand or on the windowsill. He tries to pick the most peculiar ones, the colorful and weird ones that make him think of how Kurt’s fin had looked. Every time, Kurt grumbles, but Blaine knows he loves those memories of the sea as much as he does. He sees how Kurt watches them in the morning, a tender smile on his lips, how he brushes his fingertips along their curves now and then, when he needs to be grounded. And that’s why Blaine will keep collecting them, year after year, as he and Kurt grow old together.

“But they are never enough, baby.”

Kurt chuckles then, sun sliding on his porcelain skin, and Blaine smiles, happiness bubbling through his whole body.

They spend the evening simply walking along the beach, enjoying the water licking at their feet, cool water touching warm skin. Kurt holds his hand and Blaine finds himself thinking back to the summer morning when it all started. Who would have imagined they were going to come this far together, that their love could have changed the very course of nature. The simple thought fills Blaine with wonder and gratefulness. He keeps holding Kurt’s hand, his heart changed and made better by the love for the amazing man by his side. They walk and the sea licks away their footprints on the shore, but not the love they carry around, pulsing red and warm within them. That could never be erased.

 


End file.
